Ketchikan is a small southern Alaskan town located at the Inside Passage. The small community is known for its abundant wildlife, including the salmon-filled streams, where the salmon ‘walk up the ladder’. Along the creek, you can view the salmon swarming in the water and the local anglers succeeding with their catch. A walk on the boardwalk along the creek is definitely one of the most fascinating things to do when visiting Ketchikan (and the creek is a must-see)!

 
The native Inuit culture still thrives. Ketchikan is one of the Alaskan towns known for its numerous totem poles and native cultural heritage. Due to its fascinating history, Ketchikan is popular among visitors and has developed into a hybrid of a community preserving its Tlingit Indian roots and a modern commercial town.

Photo: Travel In Culture

The speciality stores offer a wide range of products related to the native culture, and the numerous cruise passengers arriving in Ketchikan love all the souvenirs with a touch of authentic Alaskan Indian culture. Items on sale include traditional hand-carved totems in a manageable size, masks, jewellery, (baleen) baskets, woven fabrics, dolls, minerals, fudge, all shades of canned salmon related to the original salmon industry, and curved-bladed Alaskan Ulu knives traditionally used for hunting, fishing, and filleting.

Many visitors calling at Ketchikan visit on a cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage (for information about things to do in Vancouver before the cruise, see Vancouver’s Gastown Steam Clock).

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Salmon is abundant in Ketchikan. The Tlingit Indians were the first to settle by the creek to take advantage of the rich fishing opportunities, and Ketchikan, therefore, started as a small fishing settlement. The people have lived off the salmon catch for generations – for their use – and since the late 1800s, also for industrial purposes. A salmon cannery was established, and later, during the Gold Rush in the 1890s, Ketchikan also became a ‘foodstuff centre’ and trading post for the miners.

Speciality shop with canned salmon | Photo: Travel In Culture

Another straightforward option for a living was exploiting the large forest areas. In the 1900s, logging and timber cutting took off and created the need for sawmills locally.

The logging tradition is still upheld – and visitors can today gain insight into the tradition-bound discipline by attending one of the popular activities, the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, where brave men show their extraordinary skills, competing at axe throwing, tree climbing, log handling, and more. Also, the Visitor Centre, the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, provides further information on the cultural and natural regional history.

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Timber, fishing, and fishing processing remain significant economic industries of Ketchikan today. Moreover, in recent years, tourism has emerged and is now a major source of income. Ketchikan has become attractive, particularly due to its unique salmon abundance and original native culture. Today, Ketchikan is a top cruise destination with its convenient location along the Alaskan coast, cultural and nature-related offers, and wealth of things to see and do related to the original Inuit culture, canning industry, and fishing.

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As a salmon spawning stream, Ketchikan Creek was already exploited by a division of the Tlingit Indians, the Tongass people/‘Sea Lion Tribe” (‘Tongass’ is included and referred to in names at several locations in Ketchikan).

The salmon undertakes an incredible journey from the saltwater ocean to the exact freshwater spot where it hatched, leaping up the various parts of the stream – hence the name ‘salmon ladder’. The female salmon deposit their eggs in the gravel and guard them until they die. Despite travelling in schools to avoid predators, a large percentage of the eggs never make the voyage downstream to the ocean. The salmon spend one to five years at sea maturing until they return to their hatching spot in the stream. They navigate according to temperature, smell, and genetic codes. Each type of salmon (pink, silver, red, chum, and king salmon) has a specific length of migration cycle. Out of one hundred salmon reaching the ocean, only one makes it for the return to the spawning stream!

Fishing for salmon in the creek | Photo: Travel In Culture

The salmon ladder is only a short walk from Ketchikan Harbour – and walking up there is one of the top things to do in the old fishing settlement – a must-see! From Ketchikan Creek Bridge or Creek Street Footbridge, you can enjoy extraordinary views of the salmon swimming at Ketchikan Creek Falls.

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Creek Street is the historic part of Ketchikan, meandering along the creek, a boardwalk on pilings. It used to be Ketchikan’s Red Light District with primitive brothels, of which the Dolly’s House Museum is a nostalgic reminiscence today. The prolongation of Creek Street is Married Man’s Trail, the escape route from the brothels in the event of police raids.

Dolly’s House | Photo: Travel In Culture

Photo: Travel In Culture

It is unarguable that the boardwalk is tremendously picturesque, lined with colourful wooden houses from a bygone era. The speciality shops around Creek Street are brimming with native artwork, local jewellery, and canned salmon.

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Wherever you walk, you will have the salmon below your feet during the salmon season. You might also catch a glimpse of an otter or a seal in the harbour. Likewise, bald eagles soar in the air. Another interesting sight during the salmon spawning season is the sight of a black bear hunting for prey in the water!

One of the things to do in Ketchikan is walking the boardwalk in Creek Street | Photo: Travel In Culture

In the early 1900s, the original Tlingit population had moved south of Ketchikan Creek, forming ‘Indian Town’. During the next few decades, Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants who had come to Ketchikan to work in the emerging fishing industry joined them. It developed into a veritable segregation of the people living in Ketchikan, where Ketchikan Greek became the border separating the Asian newcomers from the long-established residents.

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The newcomers founded this neighbourhood around Stedman Street and Thomas Street with commercial and residential houses. The district became the focal point of the growing fleet of fishing vessels, which included 2,000 boats when it peaked. The Thomas Basin flourished with fishing boats at the time.

One of the things to do in Ketchikan is walking along historic Stedman Street | Photo: Travel In Culture

The commercial buildings around Stedman Street were simple wooden structures, which in the 1920s were extended with false fronts. Today, visitors can still see the false-front buildings, which look ‘complete’ from the front but are not that pretty from the side.

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Ketchikan’s Totem Heritage Center has numerous totem poles on display, most of which are a few hundred years old. They originate from former Tlingit villages around Ketchikan, created in the totem poles’ heyday in the mid-1800s and a few decades forward. Although partly restored, some of them have traces of their original paint.

Originally, totem poles honoured significant persons and commemorated certain events and legends of the native people. They represent the old way of storytelling and could have multiple purposes, including marking graves. They often include carved figures that are mythological animals that are associated with the history of the tribe, emphasising the link to the ancestors. Also, shame poles exist where the pole has been erected to raise shame about a person’s behaviour.

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Scattered over Ketchikan, there are approximately 80 totem poles, which makes Ketchikan the site with the largest number of these native artefacts. Chief Johnson Totem Pole, the Sun Raven Totem Pole, Chief Kyan Totem Pole, and The Easter Totem Pole are some of the most remarkable and famous poles.

The Easter Totem Pole, located at the United Methodist Church | Photo: Travel In Culture

For more totem poles, the heritage Saxman Totem Park, a few kilometres away, has an impressive collection of colourful specimens.

Tongass Historical Museum | Photo: Travel In Culture

Tongass Historical Museum, located opposite Creek Street, puts the local history in an even broader perspective, including the culture of the entire Southeast Alaska.

For more inspiration for what to do on a day trip from Anchorage towards Seward, you may want to read Where to Stay in Anchorage & What to Do Before a Cruise and Skagway White Pass Train Tour

Read next: Hoonah, Icy Strait Point: Whale Watching and 5 Fascinating Things to Do in Anchorage, Alaska

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